Lots and Lots of Rain

Rain was in the forecast. Lots and lots of it. 

Carrie wanted to refresh the gravel in the lots anyway, so she had a load of gravel dust delivered to get ready. Unfortunately, the guy who we'd hired to spread it, Aaron, disappeared.

We talked about spreading some of the gravel dust ourselves, but it never happened. The rains came and, boy, did it pour.

I'd left a poop bucket outside and it had already start to fill up by the time we did morning chores. I left it be to see how high the water level would rise.

My coat got soaked through the first day of the it.

The boys' side was doing okay. It was dry and the guys had been considerate enough to do most of their pooping under the lean-to. 

I still had to collect stems in the rain, but that had been expected.

The girls' side was a whole different story. The former residents (boys) had worn down the gravel dust to dirt and water was seeping in and pooling in areas under the lean-to. 

Carrie pumped water by hand while I did chores.

Carrie came out a couple of times midday to keep checking and cleaning out the girls' area.

The whole lot became a mud pit. One horse showed a desire for cleanliness, but another pair who won't be named enjoyed rolling around and wallowing in the mess!

Carrie tried to move gravel dust and fill in one of the lakes by hand while I was teaching, but there was too much water coming down and not enough time or energy in her life to combat it effectively.

Other places got hit worse than us. The school system was getting a mix of flak and praise on social media. Today would have been the first day back in school for some young kids, but ACPS closed schools. Some parents were highly frustrated while others pointed out that roads were closed and some areas flooded.

Scottsville proper was battling the James River.

There are pumps that activate in town whenever the river rises above 13 feet. The news said it crested above 21 feet this time.

The put up a wall and closed the leevee. Supposedly, this was the highest the river has been since 2010.

The schools made the right call to cancel physical school and remain virtual. It would have been a nice day off in the pre-COVID world, but with virtual teaching it was just another day. My classes went on as usual.

It rained all day and through chores at night. I spotted a pair of eyes glowing at me from the corn field as a black cat watched Loki and I work.

 The rain had stopped by the next morning. There was a lot of water everywhere!

Carrie and I used a stem to measure how much water collected in the poop bucket from earlier. We got a good 6"!

I took a video of the drainage coming off the fields and running through Maddy's lot. The 'river' flowed for over 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Abby lounged about in the mud. Micayla said she thought Abby was part pig. She hates baths and loves to get dirty!

We needed days to dry out. At some point, we need to transfer the big pile of gravel dust in our yard into the dry lots to combat the erosion and prevent more standing water in the future. There's always something to work on at a barn.

Rains of Change

Hurricane Zeta brought a ton of rain. Everyone looked miserable out there.

Everything was underwater.

Somehow, we've lose enough dirt that the water flooded into the boys area. Carrie pulled them once the rain stopped to let it drain some.

The rain affected our little world, but there was a bigger shift going on: Three school districts in VA closed their doors and said, "We're doing it online till the rains pass."

Are school cancellations a thing of the past? Snow days a glory of yore? 

I think the headlines are a sneak peek at the 'new normal.' There will still be kids who play hooky when snow falls. Shane might even be one of them, but as a teacher I'm sure I'll be sitting in front of my computer.

The rain took over a day to drain from the pastures. A river ran through Maddy's lot.

I rescued a few earthworms caught in the current. I think Carrie said we got over 5 inches of precipitation.

Two days later, there were pools of water just off the soccer field at Shane's final game!

 I'm sure the ground squished as the kids ran!

Thoughts Pouring Out

We celebrate rain. 

Especially after the drought last year.

I learned to love the rain growing up in Beaumont. We played in the wet grass, swam in ditches, counted seconds between thunder and lightning, and fell asleep listening to the rhythm hitting the roof. Rain is a great reason to curl up on a couch with a book, pet, or person.

Those are reasons I love the rain. Carrie loves that it helps the grass grow! She likes those other things too, but the health of our pastures rattles around frequently in her head. She starts to count if too many days without rain pass.

Shane loves the clouds. He likes to watch the sky and predict when things will happen (and sometimes he gets it right!).

Loki doesn't love storms, but he's not terrified either. He'll bark at loud thunder and hesitate about getting soaked....unless there are cars driving by. The thrill of the chase overrides his concerns!

We've had several really good rain days lately. There was a stretch where Carrie was talking about roping off the pastures and switching to hay, but it never had to happen.

The land handles the rain far better than it once did. It soaks most of it right up.

The horses will run under cover if it starts to really come down. Once it dies down a bit, they walk right back out to munch.

I'm sure the farmers are rejoicing. They have even more at stake!

I've had the urge to walk into the corn a la Field of Dreams for a while. I finally gave in to the impulse.

One row in and the outside world is obscured. I imagine a few more rows feels like a different world.

I don't want to mess too much with what's not mine, so I haven't tread that far. The rows run nice and evenly, so I think it'd be easy to keep my bearings. The rows run like little highways. I'm sure wildlife uses it like a private highway.

It's neat how the stalks come up from the ground.

I really want to do a corn maze when the pandemic ends. If it wasn't so hot (and not my corn), I'd be happy to roam and let the imagination wander.

I'm sure Shane feels much the same. When I had him recite what we did that day, I asked him, "Which do you think someone else would find the most interesting to talk about?"

He didn't say, "Minecraft." He mentioned the corn!

Loki was fine as long as he was with us!

The heat wore him out, though!

We've now been in the house a little over a year. Carrie and I were actually in Scotland exactly a year ago while the barn was being finished....sorta. But that's a different story!

Rainstorm

It rained all through the night. The temperature dropped and the wind kicked up. Our drought problems are over. 

The barn is mostly leak free now. I found one spot in the far corner stall. Carrie hired Jason to come through and fix the leaks that Kyle never did. 

Jason's friend put up the gutters and they were working as intended. Water was pumping through and Lake Wannagutter was closer to pond size than actual lake. I tried to take a picture, but Sam thought I was walking up to offer him food.

I took some pictures of the gutters in action instead.

Loki (and my fingertips) tried to hop in.

While we're not sure how much rain fell overnight, the arena offered a clue. There was more standing water than the previous rainstorm.

We have lots of photogenic animals. I was able to get a shot of the pond without anyone blocking the view the second time around. It was better than before, but more water than we hoped for.

We noticed a new tributary feeding into the pond, as well. Carrie and I talked about diverting it, but then the storm kicked it up a notch.

For the next hour, the rain came down in buckets. It was so loud in the barn that Sam and Maddy started prancing in their stalls. Sam started to act like he was going to panic, so we turned them out into the storm.

Nibs said there was no way she was leaving her warm, dry stall!

I took a picture of the mini-flood in progress. The stream from the driveway overflowed to the point it started to flow across and down the driveway otherwise we may have had water in the stalls.

The flow from the gutters picked up proportionally.

The heavy rain lasted for about two hours.

We watched from inside the house.

When the rain stopped, Carrie and I went out to look at the tributary. She pulled out the mattock before I could and then refused to hand it over. I would have preferred for her to rest her foot and knee, but she was stubborn and put her years of YCC experience to use.

I called out Shane when we were done and he was fascinated (the kid loves water).

I discovered a leak in the car when it was time for church. The front passenger wheel well was flooded. There had been a highlighter down there, so everything looked more yellow than it had a right to be.

I spotted where the water was coming in, but there's not a lot I can do with it right now. The Volvo is my "drive till it dies" ride. It's got 114k miles on it and I'm only going to fix the minimal to keep it moving. I may have to remember to park it in the garage for rain in the future.

The rain quieted down, but it was still a wet afternoon. I started to build a coat rack with Shane, but Carrie jumped in. His antics and her nerves made a poor combination, but the rack was built nonetheless.

We used electronics to quiet down and finish off the day.

We learn something new about the barn every turn. We'll get it functioning one day. I told Carrie that I actually enjoy the problem solving process and like figuring things out with her. I wasn't lying either. It'll be nice to not have all the odds and ends going wrong here and there, but when I look at them as a puzzle to solve it makes the process of getting there more fun.